Life Lessons: Judging under Oath

Jury duty. No big deal. I had done it before. It means a day of sitting on hard chairs in a courtroom answering lawyers’ questions. At most, it means another DUI with an open-and-shut case.

Not this time. This, time the charge was homicide. We were instructed to clear our calendars for the rest of the week. We were asked to discern the innocence or guilt of a person who admitted to stabbing and killing a peer. Was it deliberate? Or, was it self-defense?

I have spent a lifetime learning to accept more and judge less. I buy into a world-view based on benefit of the doubt. Judge not, lest you yourself be judged. Cast out the log in your own eye before picking at the splinter in another’s . We all live in glass houses and should not throw stones.

But here I was. Sworn into duty, the duty to judge. I took a powerful lesson from this difficult charge. It was a lesson about responsibility, a chain of events, and the moment of choice.

After listening to presentations by prosecution and defense, I could understand action—even violent action—in the heat of confrontation. Nevertheless, I realized that society expects us to recognize the choices leading up to that point, and to consider the outcome when making those choices. In Montana, an aggressor cannot claim self defense when things turn south. A fatal encounter belongs to the one who takes the first step.

In our own lives, the daily choices are less imminently a matter of life or death. However, it may help to think of those choices against a more serious and dramatic backdrop. I decide on a second or third drink, knowing there is a long drive home. I like to eat, so I carry pounds that place a burden on my heart, joints, and immune system. I will find time for inner work when others no longer demand my attention. I promise to be more active when I retire, even though my dad died suddenly at 54.

Judgment has multiple meanings. It can mean that I evaluate another’s choices, and conclude that they are bad. It can also mean that I evaluate my own choices, consider the chain of events, and choose more wisely. Do you find yourself in this picture? So do I. I took an important lesson from jury duty, a lesson about personal responsibility for anticipating outcomes in the moment of choice.

It is worth learning—again (and again).

Until the next time, go well.

Pam

www.wellbuddies.com